What Most Songwriters Miss About Production

People love to pick my brain about production.

I’ve gotten emails and DMs asking...

“What’s the secret?”
“What plug-ins do you use?”
“What’s your go-to vocal chain?”

But here’s the truth I always come back to. Great production doesn’t come from gear or random bits of information. It comes from a great song.

That’s not the sexy answer, but it’s the right one.

Christine is a perfect example. She came in with sharp lyrics, bold concepts, and a real sense of identity as an artist. But when it came to making her productions land, something wasn’t clicking.

She was using too many chords and her choruses didn’t pop. They blended into the verses instead of lifting the song.

So what did we do?
We re-wrote.
Again and again.

I pushed her to craft choruses that were catchy, melodic, and punchy, the kind that stick. And because she was a student who's open and willing to learn a new perspective, she never fought it. She never said, “Well, I think...”

She just did the work.

Now, her songs have a natural flow. The emotional lift is there. The production isn’t trying to cover weaknesses, it’s amplifying strengths.

When the foundation is strong, productions are dialed in. Intentional. Emotional. They sound like her.

So if you’re feeling stuck in production, ask yourself...

Are you trying to solve it with more tools?
Or is it time to rewrite the foundation?

Because when the song works, the production doesn’t have to fight.
It flows.